Some Secrets Should Stay Secret
by S. A. Carter
Summary: Nothing is what it seems. Orphan Mia Wells learns this soon after she meets her new Guardians. Her parents may have known them, but she doesn't. Mia finds out too late what the Laroche's have been keeping secret. Mia doesn't believe in the supernatural. They aren't real...they can't be. That's crazy...right?
1. Prologue

Prologue

_Mia_

_"It's getting dark and it's all too quiet. And I can't trust anything now." _

-Taylor Swift

It was October tenth, that was the day my life officially fell apart. I'd lost my brother two days before, and it was on the day of his funeral.

"Are you ready, Sweetheart?" I turned at the sound of Dad's voice.

"Yes." I replied, taking in how red and puffy his eyes were. He'd been crying recently, and it made me want to cry.

"You're mother is waiting for us. Come on." He was refusing to look me in the eye. I let him lead me from my small bedroom.

"Dad?" I glanced at him from the corner of my eye.

"Hm?" Dad looked straight ahead.

"I'm sorry." I spoke softly, leveling my eyes with the floor.

"For?" Mom was coming down the hall toward us. Dad held his hand out to her.

"For not helping him." I whispered, that was when they both looked at me; Alarm was written on their faces.

"Sweetheart, no. Jacob was in a bad place for a long time. He decided he couldn't take it anymore. There is no way that him doing this is your fault." Dad spoke fiercely.

"Then why won't either of you look me in the eye? You can't tell me that at least a little bit of both of you doesn't blame me!" I looked between the two of them. They shared a long look before Mom spoke.

"Mia, the only person we blame is Jacob. You didn't force him to sit in that car and shut the garage. _He_ did it on his own." Mom had tears glistening in her eyes.

"But if I hadn't fought with him and hadn't run out like a child-"

"Mia, he was probably going to di it had you done nothing." Dad said, shaking his head.

"We need to go, but Mia, it was not your fault. If Jacob could, he'd tell you the same thing." Mom said, pulling dad and I out of the house.

As soon as I had my seatbelt buckled, we were pulling out of the driveway. I was an abnormally warm day for it being October. The winds were strong and leaves from the trees were flying around.

"Mia, how about tomorrow we go shopping? You need some new clothes. You've gotten taller." Mom said, turning around in her seat to look at me.

"Mom, the only thing that grew is my boobs and the empty space in our house." I said, staring out of the window.

"Oh, we could go to Victoria's Secret!" Mom smiled, shaking her head.

"That'd be cool." I said, smilling back. I could really care less about shopping, but I felt like it would upset her more if i said no.

Dad turned to looked at me. If he hadn't turned to look at me, maybe he would have seen the kid run into the middle of the street after his ball.

"Dad!" I screamed, and he whirled around. Dad swirved around the kid, but that didn't give him enough time to see the other car coming. It smashed into Mom's side of the car. Our car went spinning, then flipped three times.

The sound of crunching metal and screaming filled the air around me. Broken glass cut my skin, and I slammed my eyes shut. I was all over in less than a minute.

"Mom? Dad?" I groaned, trying to move. I opened my eyes. My seatbelt was locked in place, the car was on it's side.

There was nothing left.


	2. Pack Of Wolves

Chapter One

_Mia_

_"I don't want to be alone. I want to be left alone."_

-Audrey Hepburn

_100 days before._

"I'm sure you'll like it. Embry's so excited to meet you. That's my wife. Ree, my daughter, will just be happy to have another girl her age around. Jace will be cool, so will Derek. Logan will absolutely love you. Jarrett, I'm sure he'll like you. He's just been so unpredictable lately," Ren Laroche said. He was rambling to fill the awkward silence that seemed to float between the two of us.

Ren and his wife, Embry, were left in my parents Will as my Guardians, I also found out they were my Godparents. I'd never met them, but my mother had mentioned Embry a few times when I was younger. It's been two weeks since the accident. I'd walked away with only a few minor injuries, while both of my parents died. Dad had gone into cardiac arrest, and Mom died from severe internal bleeding. I'd only had badly bruised ribs and scratches. I did, though, have a new scar across my left eyebrow.

The days following the accident were very confusing. They decided to hold off on Jacob's funeral, so they could have it with my parents. I was staying with my uncle for the time being. My grandparents lived in Germany, and I didn't really know them. On the day the Will was read, my uncle made a lot of phone calls.

Ren showed up on the day they were all buried. I had managed to keep myself together through all of that. I still haven't cried, I seriously thought about just killing myself while I was packing. But then I decided that my parents wouldn't want that, and neither would Jacob. Not even if that's what he did. I never said goodbye to any of my friends, because they would have been asking me to come back and visit. But I wasn't going too, because I was never going to come back to this place. So that means bye-bye Michigan and hello Colorado!

Ren and I were currently driving to his house from the airport. He ran a hand through his dark hair. He glanced at me, a smile on his face. The silver specks in his eyes lit up.

"How old did you say they were?" I asked. I wanted to take the attention off of myself, but I didn't want to sit in silence.

"Well, Jace is eighteen. He's the oldest. Jarrett's next, he's seventeen. Ree's sixteen, barely a year older than you. Derek is twelve, beginning to enter the stages of hating his parents. Then there's Logan, who's only four." Ren seemed to mentally tick off his children as he named them, I almost smiled. Looking at him, I could tell Ren was actually really good looking. I wonder how much nicer he looked when he was a teenager.

"Oh. You live so far up the mountain," I said. I looked out the window, watching as trees flew by on the side of the road.

"Yeah, we do. There's only one road leading to our house. There are a lot of hiking trails and bike trails up here. Your uncle told me you like to ice skate? There's a nice pond near our house. The kids skate on it every winter." Ren said, shaking his head.

"I don't skate anymore," I replied. It was one of the many things I'd decided to give up.

"Oh, well. I'm sure the kids will help you find something else you like to do." Ren said.

I nodded, looking straight out of the wind shield. I kept glancing at Ren, just to make sure his eyes were glued on the road. I didn't like being inside this car, I didn't like any cars anymore.

"Did they already get my things out here?" I asked, glancing between him and the road.

"Yes, Embry called me right after we got off the- hold on!" Ren slammed on the brakes, and the car swerved. I buried my face in my hands, my heart thudding against my chest at an incredible speed. That car stopped, and I raised my head. I couldn't breathe, I could barely make the shallow breaths I was attempting. I knew why Ren had stopped though. A few feet in front of the car was a wolf. It was standing in the middle of the road. It's head was raised, staring directly at the car. It was speckled with black, grey, and white.

"I swear to God- Mia! Are you okay?" Ren asked, and I nodded. Not having enough air for words.

Something totally changed in Ren in the last thirty seconds. He was leaning forward in his seat, his seatbelt seemed to strain against him. His whole body was tense. His jaw was clenched, and his eyes had a dangerous glint in them. I shrank back in my seat, trying to move away from him. He seemed almost predatory.

The wolf gave a quick wag of his tail, then bounded off of the road, it disappeared into the trees. Ren visibly relaxed a bit, but still looked tense as he got the car moving. He stayed silent, and it gave me time to collect myself.

"There are wolves out here?" I gasped, running a hand through my hair.

"Yes. They stay away from the houses though." Ren's voice was strained, and I fell silent again. Afraid I'd anger him.

I barely noticed when we turned onto a well hidden road. I jumped back in surprise when a branch smacked against the window. I blinked, looking at Ren. He sighed,

"Sorry. Probably should have said something about that." He didn't look at me though.

"It's oka-Oh my God." I felt my eyes widen as the car came out of the narrow, hidden road. The sight before me was... Oh my God.

There were five houses, the one in the middle was set on a higher slope than the others. It gave it the effect of being taller than the other four. There were two on each side. There was a bit of distance between them, but really only the length of maybe three cars from front to end of each.

On the right said, the house farthest to the right was white brick, it had a lot of windows. It looked very modern. The one next to it was red brick, with almost as many windows as the other. It was just as modern. On the left side, the house farthest to the left was light grey brick, many windows. The other one was a darker grey brick, a whole lot of windows. They were both very modern. It was the middle one that took my breath away. It was almost completely made of glass, and there were three floors. The third floor had mostly brick, but a lot of sections were still glass.

"Holy crap. Which one is yours?" I hasped, trying to take it in. Ren looked at me, a smirk on his lips.

"The one in the middle." Ren's smirk widened when my eyes almost bulged out of my head.

"You're kidding right? It's like huge!" Outside every house there were at least two cars. They were all like brand new, fancy cars. At Ren's house, there was a huge garage, and three cars in the driveway.

"No, I'm not kidding. That's my house. Well, it's yours now too." I swear, this was the most amazing house I'd ever seen.

"Holy crap." That was all I could think of as Ren pulled to a stop on the curb, directly in front of the huge house. Ren got out, just as the front door opened. A woman emerged, she had long dark brown hair, and piercing emerald eyes colored eyes. She smiled when Ren helped me out of the car. A moment later, four others emerged from the house as well. The tallest was about Jacob's age. So he was either Jace or Jarrett. The girl, around my age, had to be Ree. She looked a lot like Ren, the dark hair and even darker eyes. The boy resembled the woman a bit more. The next little boy, younger than me, looked just like his mother. That must be Derek. Logan, the four year old, was being picked up by his mother. He looked like a mixture of the two.

"Don't be shy, Mia. You'll hurt Embry's feelings." Ren said quietly, pushing me lightly. I took his signal and began moving up the walk. The woman and the others met us halfway.

"Mia! I'm Embry. Oh, you look just like Nicole. Just as beautiful. I'm so sorry about them, but we're here for you. You know that, right? Well, you better!" Embry said, and I could only nod as she pulled me into a solid hug. How was I supposed to respond to something like that? The sudden comment about my mother shut me down. The little boy, Logan, grinned at me as his mother pulled away.

"I'm Logan!" He grinned, leaning forward, kissing my cheek. Embry smiled, then headed over to Ren. She kissed him as he took Logan from her.

"I'm Jace. I hope you like it here, I know we do." Jace said, giving me a small smile.

"Mia. This place is amazing, I don't know how I couldn't like it." I said, trying to muster up a smile. Jace was going to say something else but was promptly shoved out of the way. Ree tackled me in a bear hug.

"Mia, thank God you're here! I don't know if I could've lasted much longer being the only teenage girl in the house!" She said as she let me go.

"Well, here I am." I said, shaking my head with a smile.

"I'm Derek. It's nice to meet you, Mia." Derek held out his hand to me, a very serious expression on his face. My smile widened, and I shook his hand.

"Is he in his room?" Ren asked Embry quietly, she nodded, taking Logan from him.

"Got here just a couple minutes before you pulled up. His door is locked." Embry replied softly.

Ren nodded, padding up the steps and he disappeared into the house. Jace frowned, sharing a look with Ree.

Something about the whole Laroche family gave me this unsettling vibe. Not that I didn't like them, because so far they seemed cool. But they just seemed kind of predatory. I felt like a deer being totally surrounded by a pack of wolves. Weird, right? Maybe the feeling with go away as I get used to living here.

"Mom, what's Dad doing?" Derek asked, a slight frown on his face.

"He's just going to talk to Jarrett. That's all. Now, let's get inside. I'm sure Mia's hungry and it's cold out here. Dinner's almost done." Embry said, ushering us all into the house.

Music was heard in the distance. It was loud enough to where I could tell what it was. It was Eminem at the moment, his chorus of swear words flowed through the air. Embry sighed and covered Logan's ears. I looked at Ree in question.

"Dad insisted on getting Jarrett this huge stereo and speakers for his sixteenth birthday. It was a big mistake. We've been dealing with his temper tantrums through music for almost a year and a half now." She said, rolling her eyes.

If I'd thought the outside of the house was amazing, the inside was even better. Everything looked expensive, and utterly flawless. I felt my eyes widen as we moved to the kitchen. The flow of music suddenly stopped.

"I said to get down there! Go introduce yourself! You're not sitting in there all day. Later, you and I are going to have a little chat about what you did earlier!" Ren's voice ended in this weird sound. Almost like a growl.

"What are you gonna do, alpha? Bite my ears off? Make me take extra patrols?" The voice that responded was cocky, deep, and definately male. But bite my ears off? Extra patrols? What in the world?

"Jarrett Cole Laroche! Get down here right now!" Embry snapped from behind us, "Do not talk to your father like that!"

We all directed our attention to the stairs, where Ren and Jarrett were coming down. Ren's hand was wrapped around Jarrett's arm, but Jarrett yanked it away. They glared at each other before Jarrett came down the stairs the rest of the way. If I'd thought Ree had looked like Ren, Jarrett was definately his father's mini me. His hair was a shade darker, but his facial features were almost exactly the same. His eyes grazed over his family, and when they landed on me I felt my breath catch. His eyes scared me, they weren't just grey. They were silver, like shiny metallic silver. How was that possible?

"Well, hello there. I'm Jarrett, I have a feeling you'll like this place a whole lot more than I do." The sarcasm dripped heavily off of his words. Embry and Ren cast him cold glares, which he ignored without flinching.

"Jarrett, you can show Mia around before dinner." Ren said, and Jarrett whirled to glare at him. They stood stone still, their eyes clashing against each other. I took a step back, I could feel the tension rolling off of the two of them. Embry cast me a startled glance, then glared at the boys.

"That's enough. Jarrett, do as your father says." Embry's voice had a sound of absolution in it. Jarrett shrugged, and looked at me. Jerking his head toward an archway down the hall a bit. I followed him without a word, the others disappeared into the kitchen. As soon as they were gone, Jarrett visibly relaxed. He ushered me into the room, and I looked around with wide eyes. This must be the living room. Three out of four walls were glass, and all the furniture was tan leather. Very nice. Jarrett offered a lazy grin at my face.

"Yeah, sorry for that back there. Dad brings the worst out of me. Anyways, this is the living room. The only time we're ever in here is when we have a bunch of guests. We do every Friday, just to tell you. Okay let's go." Jarrett, led me back into the hall. We passed a closed door.

"That's Dad's office. Don't go in there, he'll be pissed. That doors a bathroom. That's the library. Bunch of books. Dining room, it's huge, up the stairs we go." Jarrett padded up the stairs with happy enthusiasm. I was actually kind of surprised, because of how he'd just been acting.

"Do you act like that with Ren on purpose?" I asked, I surprised myself though. I hadn't actually meant to ask that. Jarrett didn't look in the least bit surprised though.

"Yuppers. He's an asshole. Well this is the second floor. My parents, Ree, Jace, Derek, and Logan sleep on this floor. Their bedrooms are all on this floor. This is Ree's." Jarrett said, pushing open a door. I peaked my head inside, and drew back in surprise. It was really...pink. Two walls were complete glass since it was on the corner of the floor. Very modernly decorated, but it was just way to pink.

"That's really pink." I said, as Jarrett shut the door.

"Yeah, I know. I tried to tell her to lay off the pink, but she wouldn't listen. This is my parents room." Jarrett said, moving down the hall a bit. He opened another door, moving so I could peak my head in. It was decorated with candles, and was brown and tan. Modern as well. It was cute, I liked it.

"It's cute." I said, looking at him as he closed the door.

"You wouldn't think that if I told you how many matresses they go through." Jarrett looked totally serious.

"Okay, I'm going to pretend you didn't say that." I said as we moved to the next door. He passed it.

"That's another bathroom. Most of the rooms have their own. This is just in case...I really don't know what it's for. But it's there." He opened a different door, "This is Jace's room." It was very red, black, and white. Very modern as well. These were all pretty cool rooms. Without another word, Jarrett opened another door. "This is Derek's room." It was black and white with a lot of crap everywhere. I could barely see the floor.

"He needs to clean." I said, backing out of the room.

"Yeah, good luck getting him to do that." Jarrett said, opening the last door, "This is Logan's room." It was very cute, with fish theme. A whole wall was a fish tank. I wouldn't have put that in my child's room. But it was actually really cool.

"Wow." I said, smiling at Jarrett, who nodded.

"The fish tank was my idea. I mean, the room would've been so boring otherwise. Anyways, we go up these stairs." Jarrett went up a pair of curvy stairs, I followed with an eyebrow raised. This was the third floor. The room we entered let out into a big circle, two doors on either side. Jarrett pulled me over to the one of the left side, "My room." He said, opening the door. It was probably one of the best ones I'd seen. The wall his bed was against had forest painted mural on it. It looked so real.

"Flame, my Mom's Seco-best friend painted it. Now let's see you're room. It's actually really cool." Jarrett closed his door, and directed me over to the right side of the big circular room. I opened the door, and stopped dead in my tracks. It was amazing. The walls were painted almost like Jarrett's, accept mine were of rain forests. My bed in the middle of the room had a zebra print cover, even though it didn't really go with the walls it looked amazing. The lights dangling were all different colors, giving the room this sunsetty feel. Chirping from the corner of the room brought my attention to it. There was a huge cage, in it were like five different birds. They were all vibrant colors, and I looked around the room. The two walls made of glass, the beautiful view. The boxes with my things in them were set up against the wall with my dresser.

"Isn't it ama-whoa. Why are you crying?" Jarrett's eyes widened slightly when he saw the tears. I couldn't exactly help them, but I didn't want to admit that it was because of how amazing this was.

"Can you please leave me alone for a couple minutes?" I asked, wiping my eyes.

"Uh, yeah, sure. Of course. I'll go check on dinner or something. Uh, yeah. I'll send Ree up, and maybe my Mom. She's-yeah." Jarrett closed the door behind him. I sat on the bed, and looked around. How long was I going to last in this amazing place?


	3. No One

Chapter Two

_Mia_

_"If you can't convince them, confuse them." _

-Harry S. Truman

_86 days before._

Two weeks, I silently told myself, you've been here two weeks. It was still strange. They were still strange. I knew them all better though, and I could tell they were all very different. Jace was the most level-headed of the siblings. He was the quiestest, and was always the one that defended his family, even if they were wrong. You could count on him to always be there for you. Jarrett, well, Jarrett was the loud, obnoxious one who tried to get on everyone's nerves on purpose. He didn't like being told what to do, and when he was he'd always find a way to get out of it. He didn't seem like it, but he was very protective. Especially of his mother, I don't really know why though. Jarrett was extremely rebellious and had very childish, yet funny, ways to show it. Ree, she was probably almost as loud as Jarrett, but she threw it into her dancing. She loved ballet, and had class everyday. Derek was the one who was still trying to find himself, he didn't know who to act like. It was between Jace and Jarrett. It seemed he was leaning toward the Jace side, thank God. None of us could deal with another Jarrett. Logan, I absolutely loved him. Whenever Embry would need someone to watch him, I would be the one too. He was adorable, and loved everything. Ren and Embry... I was still learning about them. They were a different story from their children, they seemed very... leaderish? I don't really know the word, like everyone should give them absolute respect. Everyone besides Jarrett, it seemed, did.

I was standing at the wall of windows, staring down into the yard before me. It was grassy, and wide. Something that would almost be too tempting for someone on Logan's age to just run around in giant circles. Except, whenever Logan or Derek tried to go out of the back door, Ren or Embry would hurry and usher them back into the house. Why? Why weren't these children allowed to run around in their own back yard? I mean, sure, it was getting colder but they could always put a jacket on.

My eyes slowly drifted over to the tree line, where the yard seemed to darken as trees loomed mysteriously over it. I swear, I could see figures moving through them. Dark figures, but they had shining eyes. They would shine through the darkness, and it was like they met my eyes. Almost taunting me, asking me to come join them. They were gone before I could even blink. I ran a hand through my thick, and totally poposterous, chocolate brown curls. I'd inherited my hair color and the curls from my mother. She always talked about how sorry she was, because she knew how hard it was to make the curls look at least a tiny bit not messy. I'd gotten my blue eyes from my father.

Today, was the first day of school. It was Monday, and I hated the fact that I'd have to meet a bunch of new people. I was still getting E-mails and texts from people back in Michigan, but I refused to let myself reply. Let alone let myself miss them. They would only lead me to thinking about Jacob, and my parents. Sure, I would always remember the good things. But remembering all those other people, the ones who caused Jacob so much pain that he couldn't even stand to be in the world anymore, made me furious. If it hadn't been for them, Jacob would still be alive and there would never have been a funeral. There would never have been a reason for my parents and I to be in that car. None of us would have been sad, and Dad's eyes would have been glued to the road like they always were.

But, no. I was alone. An _orphan_. Thanks to those people, and they all expected me to miss them and reply? How stupid could they be? I'd left my life behind, and that's how I intended to keep it. It was gone, the old Mia was gone. I was going to create a brand new Mia. I was going to be strong. I never want to feel as week as I did when I found my parents dead in that car crash.

There was a quiet knock on my door, so quiet I almost did it. I wanted to ignore it, but I didn't want to be rude. I tore my gaze away from the trees, away from the glowing eyes and the dark, moving figures. I swung the door open, and it revealed an irritated looking Jarrett. His irritated look left the moment he met my eyes, replaced with relief.

"We need to go. Mom and Dad are fighting again, so they aren't doing us any good. We need to get to school," Jarrett yawned. He looked at what I was wearing: black skinny jeans, a tight white tank top with a dark red cardigan over it, and black flats. "I guess you look okay. At least you know how to dress yourself. Come on, the others are waiting downstairs." I glanced over his clothing, just to see if I could make any comments about it. He was wearing dark blue jeans, a white T-shirt with a varsity Jacket with the school color, and white Nike's.

"Jarrett, there are wolves in the trees," I said softly, surprising myself. I hadn't meant to say it, I'd meant to keep it to myself. It wasn't something I wanted him to know I was uncomfortable about.

"Mia, of course there is. It's a forest, and we live in the middle of it. On a mountain. There's going to be wolves." Jarrett said. He voice sounded a little tense, and there was something else in it that I couldn't really identify. It kind of sounded like a growl.

"Yeah, duh. But why are they always in the tree right next to the yard?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" He'd stopped so abruptly going down the stairs that I bumped into him.

"I see them all the time, it's like they're watching me." I whispered. He slowly turned around, his silver eyes bore into my light blue ones. He seemed to be searching for something, but he was making me uncomfortable. I looked away and brushed past him, heading down the rest of the stairs. "Just forget I said anything. I'm being stupid."

"Don't you dare talk to me like that!" Embry's voice floated from behind the closed doors of Ren's study.

"This is your fault! Do you not understand this? Had you stopped having contact with her when I told you too, none of this would be happening!" Ren's angry voice floated beside Embry's.

"Since when do I have to follow every order you give me? If I remember correctly, Ren, I ran this shit hole before you even knew we existed! They'd still listen to me over you in a heartbeat!" I'd never heard Embry curse, and I had never thought that when she did it would be at Ren.

I was confused, what she talking about? Why would Ren be ordering Embry around? What shit hole was Embry talking about? I don't even want to think about the whole heartbeat thing. I cast an uneasy glance behind me at Jarrett, who was coming down the last of the stairs.

"You listen to me, Embry Laroche! What are we supposed to do? You've screwed us all over!" Ren's voice had that same growl in it the Jarrett's did. Except Ren's was louder and more vicious. How was that even possible? Humans shouldn't have been able to growl like that.

"She was my _best friend_, Ren! She was there for me when no one else was! She never left my side once! You can't tell me that if the same thing happened with Calla, you wouldn't have done the same thing!" Embry's voice had hurt in it, it was dripping off of it. It hurt me to hear it.

"Oh, now we're back on the Calla thing? I was eighteen, Embry! Get over it!" Ren's voice turned so incredibly mean that I flinched.

"I was upset, Ren! It was after I lost the baby, okay? I needed someone to talk to that wouldn't think of me as alpha or as their wife. I needed my best friend!" Embry sounded close to tears.

Alpha. Again, it was that word. Jarrett had referred to Ren as Alpha on my first night here. What the heck?

"Look how well you raised the rest of the children, Embry! You did such a fantastic job!" Ren snarled.

I heard a sob, and I knew it had come from Embry. What Ren had said had struck the woman deep, just like it would any other woman. Having your husband tell you that you didn't raise your children well, implying that you weren't a good mother? That had to hurt.

"Mia, let's go. We really need to go. Ree and are probably waiting, and if I sit here any longer I'll go in there and murder his ass for making Mom cry. I'll take care of him later." Jarrett said. He gently nudged me toward the door, and I moved out it without a word of protest. I didn't want to take the chance on angering him. I knew listening to that conversation had hurt him almost as much as his mother.

Sure enough, Jace and Ree were waiting in a car. It was a dark blue Malibu. I went to move over there, but Jarrett caught my elbow. When I met his eyes in surprise, he shook his head.

"Sorry, but you're driving with me, in my car."

"What kind of do you have? Because I kind of favor a Malibu." I smiled. He rolled his eyes and he gestured to the car parked in front of the Malibu. "Jarrett, it that a Ferrari?" Sitting in front of me, was a black Ferrari. My eyes were probably bulging out of my head.

"You better believe it is!" Jarrett said, laughing. He pushed me toward it, and I was almost scared to touch it. I'd always begged Dad to get a Ferrari, but he always thought I was crazy.

"I might break it." I said. Jarrett frowned at me, looking at me like I had lost my mind. So he just opened the door for me, gesturing with his head for me to get in.

I slid in, sitting frozen in place. I was officially scared I was going to break the whole car. Just by touching it. When Jarrett got into the driver's seat, I flinched when the car started. I was kind of excited to be sitting in a Ferrari, but at the same time I was kind of dreading the ride to school. With a flick of his hand Jarrett had the radio on and he was flying out of the drive way.

As we left the hidden road, I glanced behind us to see if Jace and Ree had been able to catch up. I was surprised to see there were four other cars besides Jace's Malibu behind us. I looked at Jarrett in confusion.

"Who are those people?" I asked. Jarrett looked confused for a moment, but then he seemed to understand. He glanced in the rearview mirror before returning his attention back to the road.

"Okay. So the silver Mercedes behind Jace belongs to Jesse Mathers. He lives in the house right next to our on the left. He lives with his mom and dad, Arson and Blaise. The white Infinity behind him belongs to Josh Pultina. He's my cousin. He lives in the house next to Jesse. He's there with my uncle Tyson and his wife Cosette. That purple Lamborghini behind him belongs to Faye Uchiha. She lives in the house farthest to the right with her mother, Cassie. Faye's father walked out on them before she was born. Behind Faye in the red Jaguar is Rosie Ryan. She lives in the house right next to us on the right. She lives with her mom and dad, Flame and Matt."

I nodded, relaxing in my seat. At least the people following us weren't total strangers.

The rest of the ride down the mountain wasn't boring to say in the least. Jarrett had kept me entertained by singing along with the song on the radio. It made it even funnier because the song was One Thing by One Direction. I had a thing for those boys, they were just so attractive. I mean, it was as if they were put on Earth to torture me. Especially Zayn, he just made me melt everytime he hit a high note. Niall's accent was hot. Louis was hilarious. Harry...you just couldn't explain Harry. You just had to love him. You have to love Liam for being the only semi-normal one and he wasn't even close to being normal. Not that I would ever tell Jarrett, but I had a whole box of One Direction stuff under my bed.

When we got to Mountain High, the nerves that had disappeared settled into my stomach again. I wasn't prepared for this, I hadn't even thought about what I would tell the people. Oh yeah, hi my name is Mia. Well, you see my brother committed suicide and my parents died in a car accident. So I got shipped out here to live with the Laroche's.

Yeah, great way to make friends Mia. Just scare the crap out of them. I got out of the car without a word, and the other five cars were parked in spots around us. People were getting out of them, and I started to have trouble breathing. Jarrett was at my side in a moment, after he'd gotten out of the car. He looked at me in concern as the others moved over to join us.

"Mia, are you okay?" He asked so quietly I barely heard him. I took a deep breath, nodding to him. I didn't want him to worry, so I just planted a smile on my lips. The rock in my stomach seemed to tighten.

A boy with blonde hair and light blue eyes came over to Jarrett. I glanced around, noticing that Jace was already disappearing into the school. Ree was leaning against the Malibu, looking like she was waiting for someone. Jarrett and the blonde boy nodded to each other, and the boy's eyes landed on me. His look was so intense, I felt myself shrinking away. Jarrett cleared his throat.

"Jesse, this is Mia Wells. Mia, this is Jesse Mathers. I told you about him." Jarrett said quietly, and I nodded.

"Nice to meet you." I said, offering him a small smile.

"I've heard a bit about you. My mom and dad were talking about you. It's cool to meet you." Jesse said. He picked a pebble off the ground and flicked it at Ree. It bounced off her cheek, and Ree glared at Jesse who was fighting back laughter.

A boy with long-ish brown hair and matching eyes made his way over to us. He was as intimidating as Jesse, and I felt myself shrink closer to Jarrett, who was beginning to look a bit irritated. I wondered if it was because of me, or because he just got irritated sometimes.

"Josh, this is Mia Wells. Mia, this is my cousin, Josh Pultina." Jarrett said, punching Josh's shoulder lightly.

Josh smiled at me and offered me his hand. I shook it while forcing another smile. That was when the two girls joined us. One had strawberry blonde hair and green eyes, and the other had light blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. I felt very ugly next to them.

"Mia, the ginger is Rosie Ryan. Rosie, this is Mia Wells. The other girl is Faye, she's Cassie's daughter. They look exactly alike." Jarrett said quietly, and before anyone could say anything else, Ree jumped away from the car with a giant smile on her face.

"Here they come!" She said, her eyes brightening. I turned to see where she was looking. I felt my eyes widen.

There was a group of people heading toward us. They scared the crap out of me. The people walking around them put their heads down and shrank away. Something about that group, and the group around me, made me think that they were like animals. Like the wolves that were outside in the trees. The person leading the group was a girl, a couple years older than me. She had golden hair, and her eyes were a piercing golden color. Like the color of wolf eyes. She had something in her walk, that made me think she was dangerous. She was so beautiful, and I suddenly felt very self-concious. Beside her was a boy, probably about Jarrett's age. He had shorter golden hair, and piercing green eyes. His eyes were on Ree, and the corner of one side of his lips lifted in a smile when he saw her. The other girl had blonde hair and dark grey eyes. She looked bored, but she brightened a bit when she saw Jesse.

"Angi, Trent, and Trina." Jarrett said softly into my ear. "They live on the other side of the mountain. Angi and Trent are siblings, and our parents are really good friends. Trina is their cousin, she's cool. Trent is Ree's boyfriend, which I really don't approve of. Trina and Jesse are together too." I nodded along. Ree smiled at Trent as he wound his arm around her waist. Jesse put his arm around Trina's shoulders.

"Let's get going." Jarrett said, pushing through all of them. He seemed to forget he left me stranded there, because he whirled around, grabbed my wrist, and dragged me with him. "I'll take you to every class, and pick you up after. You can sit with us a lunch, actually you'll sit with us everyday."

"Excuse me? She can't sit with us." A silky, cold voice said from behind us. Jarrett didn't even bother to look back.

"No one asked you, Angi." He said just as cold.

"If you left her sit with us, then they'll all think they can just come sit with us." I was to scared to look back, because I could almost feel the growl coming from Angi.

"She's not like them. You know that. So shut up, and deal with it. I don't care who you are, I will shut you up." Jarrett snapped, and everyone shifted uneasily. No one said another word. When we got into the school, the others headed off into a different direction than Jarrett and I. I realized why; they were all sophomore and older. The school was in sections, and Jarrett was taking me to the Freshman section.

"Jarrett, I can eat somewhere else if it'll be a problem." I said softly.

"Nah, it's not a problem. Angi just likes to piss everyone off. I'll see you after class, I gotta go or I'll be late." Jarrett said, shooting me a killer smile before walking away from the classroom door he dropped me off at.

"Jarrett, how do you know this is my class?" I called after him.

"I took your schedule this morning while you were getting ready!" He called, holding a piece a paper up. He didn't even bother to look back at me.

My first class was Algebra. That was horrible, it went way worse than I thought. I sat at a table by myself, and no one said a word to me. I kept getting these weird looks though, and some of them were even hostile. I heard some people whispered about me. I heard my name, and Laroche, and Wolves. I didn't know what they were talking about, but by the time the bell rang I was ready to burst into tears. Someone bumped into my shoulder, hard, on there way out of the classroom. My book went crashing to the floor along with a bunch of papers. I frowned, bending down to pick it up. I heard a gasp, and I looked up in surprise. Jarrett was standing a couple feet away, the kid who bumped me was standing in front of him. The kid looked scared, and Jarrett nodded to me.

"Apologize." It was the only word he said. The kid looked at me.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it." He said, before racing away. Jarrett rolled his eyes, and leaned down to help me pick up the rest of the crap. Then he helped me up, and I didn't say a word. As he walked me toward my next hour, I could feel the looks coming my way in the hall.

My second class was History. The girl the teacher sat me next to refused to talk to me, and even moved as far away from me as possible. What was going on? What had I possibly done to these people? I gave up trying to talk to her, and just did some more work in my book. When that class was finally over, I sat in my seat until Jarrett strolled in looking for me. When his eyes landed on me he knew something was wrong.

"It'll get better, Mia. They're just being stupid." He said softly, leading me from the class. I didn't respond, not knowing what to say.

The next class, Science, was exactly the same. Instead of doing any work this time, I just got a pass to leave the room. Walking down the hall, I took a deep breath. This was going nothing like I expected. I didn't think it would be great, but I didn't think it would be this bad.

Next was lunch, and Jarrett made sure I was at the same table he was, sitting next to him. I was quiet, picking at the spaghetti on my trey, not quite hungry. Ree kept shooting me worried glances, nudging me under the table. I ignored her, and even Jace tried. After awhile I just shoved my trey away, and the chat that had been going on at the table fell silent.

"What is everyone's damn issue!" I snapped, and no one looked surprised.

"They're scared, that's what." Jesse said, as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because we-" Jarrett cut Angi off.

"That's enough. She doesn't need to know that." He said, and I looked at him in shock. They were all keeping something from me. Ree, Jace, and Jarrett all knew something that I didn't. I looked around, and by the looks on their faces I was right. I stood up, and snatched my schedule that was hanging out of Jarrett's bag.

"I'll find these on my own." I snapped, walking away.

"Mia, come on! Don't leave!" Josh said, I ignored him.

"Come back!" Rosie called.

"Mia, stop it! Come back, and sit down! I'm going to follow you if you don't!" Jarrett called.

I ignored him and kept walking.

I did actually find my classes by myself, but after the last hour of the day, Jarrett was waiting for me outside of the class. I didn't have any homework, because I'd finished it all in class. So I just followed him to the parking lot. Once we were in the car, he just sat there for a moment watching me.

That was when I finally broke, tears blurred my vision. I looked at him, and he grimaced.

"I have _no_ one." I said softly, and Jarrett looked sad.

"It'll get better." He said, sounding optimistic.

"I wish I stayed in Michigan!" I snapped, staring out of the window.

Jarrett sucked in a breath, and started the car. He shot me a look before backing out of the spot.

"I'm sorry." I think I heard him say. But it was so quiet I was sure I was hearing things.


	4. Nicole's Past

Chapter Three

_Mia_

_"Oh, won't you walk through? And bust in the door and take me away?"  
_

-Katy Perry

_80 days before._

They were there again. The wolves, I could see them. Guiding themselves through the trees, their eyes glowing through the darkness. I couldn't sleep, I haven't been able to for the last couple days. Something kept calling me to the windows, just to meet the eyes of the wolves in the trees below.

"Why are you always here?" I whispered. I was talking to myself, and had anyone else been in my bedroom they would have thought I was going completely crazy. After a split second of thinking, I was quietly padding out of my room. It was Saturday night, Ree and Jarrett have yet to come home. I don't know where they went, but they've been gone for quite awhile.

Embry and Ren were still fighting, everytime they thought their children or I weren't around they'd give each other hurtful, angry jabs. I silently made my way down the second flight of stairs, reaching the main floor of the house. I made my way toward the library, but then I stopped. It was an open place, I wouldn't find anything in there. There wouldn't be any answers to anything in there. So instead, I made my way to Ren's Office. I placed my hand on the door and froze.

What the hell was I doing? Was there even something to find? Maybe I was just being paranoid. I mean, what could they possibly be hiding? Sure, they used some pretty weird terms with each other, but they took me in when I had no one else. But shouldn't that give me a right to know what they were hiding? I knew they were, and I now knew it had something to do with my mother. Everytime I brought her up, the conversation would get shut down almost instantly by Ren.

I _had_ to know! I had too! I couldn't take being in the dark anymore. School was the same, and every time I tried to talk to someone they would instantly leave or shoot and insult at me. It hurt, and I wanted to know why. It had to have something to do with Jarrett and the others. They walked like they were predators, they acted like they ran the place. Even the teachers seemed to be scared of them.

Just thinking about Jarrett made me even more angry; because just looking at him made me want to stop being so angry at him. Stop being angry at them all. That first day of school had hurt my feelings, and it wasn't like they cared. They never brought it up. They never came up to me about that day.

I slid my hand down to the handle, and before I turned it, a noise caused me to whirl around. Nothing was there though, and that was when I heard it. A lone howl, a wolf howl, and then it was joined in by others. A decent amount of others. I felt the color drain from my face, and I turned back to the door. Without another thought, I opened it and slipped inside, shutting the door softly behind me.

One wall of the room was lined with book cases, Ren's desk was placed strategically in the corner, facing the wall of windows. There was stacks of papers on it, and a picture frame. The curious part of me took a small peek at it. It was a younger version of Ren and Embry. Embry was in a silver dress, and she was dancing with Ren. You could tell they were obviously in love. I wanted to know what happened, what had changed.

I started with the bookshelves, scanning through the names and the authors. They were just classics, like originals. Maybe that's why Ren kept them in here, so they wouldn't get ruined. It varied, from Moby Dick to some books I'd never heard of. So I made my way over to Ren's desk. I looked through the papers, feeling the color drain from my face once again.

_~Patrol Report- Flame Ryan; West side of Haldis Territory. July 9th, 2012_

_There have been repeated traces of the scents you told us to look for, and it seems to be getting stronger as it gets deeper into our territory. I haven't found anything yet, but I'll be sure to check it out Monday. There is a deer herd on the west side, and it's too large. We should hunt it now. _

_~Patrol Report- Arson Mathers; East side of Haldis Territory. July 9th, 2012_

_No signs of the scents at any part of the Territory. They clearly haven't been able to find their way over here yet. There is a lone wolf here, and I don't know if it plans on staying or not. It's female, and there is more than one scent on her. I think she has pups with her. _

_~Patrol Report- Cassie Uchiha; North side of Haldis Territory. July 9th, 2012_

_There is no sign of any other scent here, besides our own. There's another mountain lion, but I don't think it'll cause any problems for the time being. _

_~Patrol Report- Tyson Pultina; South side of Haldis Territory. July 9th, 2012_

_The scent you told us to look for is strong here, and I think it's time we do something about it. I saw one of them walking through the forest the other day, but I didn't attack on your orders. They're getting cocky, and we need to show them that we won't allow this._

I was frozen in place as I read the papers, my heart was beginning to thud against my chest. If anyone else had been in the room with me they would have heard it. I set the papers back on the desk and tried to put them in the exact spot I'd found them in. That was when I noticed at chest tucked away behind the desk. I crouched down beside it and flipped the latch. Pulling it open, the hinges screeched. I flinched, hoping it wasn't as loud as I thought it was.

Inside were old books. One was titled: _History of the Bane Pack._ Another was: _History of the Nightshade Pack. _The two books were old, and falling apart. I decided to take one, and look through the rest of them later. I settled for the Bane one and I put the Nightshade one back in there while I quickly closed the screeching chest. I mentally told myself that I should probably try to fix that the next time I came in here. I settled into Ren's desk chair, and opened to the first page of the book.

I was near the end of the book, my hands were trembling and brain was telling me that this was fake. It was just a book, and it was probably fake. But it would explain so much. The talk, the growls, the taunts. The way they carried themselves at school. It would explain everything. The wolves always patroling through the trees, always at night and early in the morning. The patrol reports on Ren's desk. I finished the last page of the book, and I closed it just as the door swung open.

I could barely bring myself to look hope, but a small part of me was hoping that it wasn't Ren that had found me. I didn't want to anger him, but I had to know. What exactly had reading this book given me? Instead of seeing the anger dark eyes of Ren, I was met by silver ones. Silver eyes filled with horror.

"Mia, what are you doing in here?" Jarrett asked, taking a step into the room. I flew from the chair, dropping the book to the floor. His eyes landed on the book, and they widened even more. He closed the door behind him, looking up at me again.

"I was reading." I choked out.

"Mia, you don't understand, okay? The book doesn't-"

"What _are_ you, Jarrett?" I cried, taking a step back as he took a step toward. He looked hurt for a moment, but it didn't last long.

"I'm the same Jarrett you know." Jarrett said softly.

"I don't _know_ you at all, do I Jarrett?" I cried, feeling the tears blur my vision.

"What did the book say?" He said. He was trying to stay calm, I could see it.

"Keepers, and Guardians! What are you, Jarrett! What don't I know?" I whispered, and his face look on a look of heartbreak.

"You weren't supposed to find out like this, Dad didn't want you to find out at all. I just-" Jarrett was cut off by the door opening. Embry was standing there in her pajamas, a tight tank top and shorts. I had no idea how she had the body she did after having five children. She looked good for a woman in her late thirties.

"Jarrett, you knew this was going to happen. We both did." She said softly, giving her son a sad smile.

"Mom, where's Dad?" Jarrett asked.

"He's still asleep." Embry looked at Jarrett sadly, "I was in Logan's room when I heard you come in the front door."

"Why were you in Logan's room?" Jarrett looked frustrated.

"I was sleeping in there. But that doesn't matter, because Mia, I am here to explain everything to you." Embry had this determined look on her face.

"Mom, Dad doesn't want her to know. He'll be even more angry at you when he finds out you told her." Jarrett looked pained.

"Jarrett, darling, I'm afraid there is no saving your father and I. It doesn't matter anymore, he's decided that." Embry's voice broke at the end. Jarrett looked astonished, and he shook his head.

"I want to know. _Now._" I said, taking a deep breath. Embry nodded, shutting the door behind her. She pulled a chair from the corner, sitting in front of the chair I'd vacated. I slowly made my way over and sat in it again. Jarrett leaned against the door, looking absolutely miserable. "Mia, I'm going to start with how I met your mother."

"Yeah, I want to know that." I said softly.

"You've read the book about the Bane pack and their Keeper, Efron. I'm from the Nightshade pack, and my Keeper's name had been Lumine. When I was born, I was a twin. I'm the oldest, and Tyson is my brother. I'm sure you've met his son Josh. My parents decided they didn't want to accept the way the Keepers ran things any longer, so they left. Along with a other couples. Flame's parents, Arson's parents, and Blaise's parents. They're were three other children around my age, Spark, Flint, and Sunny. But they're gone now. Along with all of our parents, none of them are still alive. But as you now know from reading the book, we can shift forms. We go from being human to being wolves." Embry paused for a moment, looking at Jarrett. She nodded to him, and he shook his head. His eyes were glued to me. "Jarrett, shift now." Embry commanded, Jarrett grimaced, but he nodded.

A second later, a wolf was in the exact spot Jarrett had been. Not only was he a wolf, but he was one I recognized. The one that had caused Ren to swerve on the first day here. I gasped, pressing a hand to my mouth. His silver eyes stayed the same, and he slowly walked over to me, his tail between his legs and his ears pressed against his head. He nuzzled my hand that had been hanging over the edge of the chair. He sat next to me, turning his eyes back to his mother. Embry nodded in approval and looked back at me.

"Our parents took us to a place known at the Academy, which was ran by people known as the Searchers." Embry hesitated for a moment, but then she met my eyes. "Your mother was a Searcher, Mia. I grew up with her at the Academy. The Searchers are people who were fighting against the Keepers. We were best friends for as long as I can remember. When I was seventeen, the year I met Ren, it was time for us to finally take action against the Keepers. By then, Spark, Flint, and Sunny were dead. I won't tell you about that though, that's not a story anyone should ever hear. We were ready for the fighting, but we weren't ready for what came after that. You see, there needed to be a sacrifice. Someone to choose whether or not we can still shift because our Masters were gone. I was chosen to do it, and it's not something I would ever take back." Embry stood up from the chair. She stood up, pulling her shirt up to her belly button. On both of her hips were jagged scars, they were raised slightly. They were a slight pink color, and Jarrett whined. Lowering his head as he stared at his mother. She dropped the shirt, and pulled the top sleeves down a bit to see her shoulders. Matching scars were on either shoulder.

"It's a miracle I'm still alive." Embry said, sitting back down. Tears filled her eyes, "Ren and I were engaged when I found out I was going to be sacrificed. None of us thought I was going to make it. It was hard, but I had to do it. When I did live, though, Ren and I married. Your mother stood in my wedding. Jace was born two days after my eighteenth birthday. Yes, I know. I was young. But I'd always wanted a big family. Your mother had met your father soon after that, and before we knew it, Jacob was born. Except, your mother wasn't married to your father and he had no idea she was a Searcher. She had no idea of what he was either. They married without truly knowing each other, and then you came along soon after Ree did. Your mother asked Ren and I to be your Godparents. We accepted without a second thought. Your father wasn't very accepting of us, like Nicole was. He wasn't very accepting of her life style either. Considering how he'd been raised." Embry's eyes drifted around the room, and she took a deep breath.

"Your father was a hunter, Mia. He hunted people like us, Guardians as we calls ourselves. When he found out he gave Nicole a choice. He was taking Jacob and you and leaving, either she could go with them or she could stay here alone. We would have helped Nicole keep the two of you, no matter what. She didn't see it that way though. She thought that we were tearing her family apart, so she turned on us as well. I lost my best friend to Brad Wells. Before they left they attacked Jace when he was playing in the forest. We were able to save him, but Jace was different after that. We let them go, I had to beg Ren not to kill them right there. After that, Ren forbidded me from keeping contact with Nicole. I went behind his back though, when Nicole sent me a letter a month ago. She said she needed help, that she didn't feel safe. That she thought she was in danger. I sent her a letter back telling her to come home, that we would be waiting for her, but I never heard from her again. Then we got a call from Brad's brother, who didn't know what we were, and said Nicole and Brad were dead and so was Jacob and we were left in their Will as your Guardians. Ren was refusing at first to let you come here, but then I told him there was no way you knew about us and that there was no way you could have known about the hunters."

"Why couldn't I have known about the hunters?" I breathed. I knew I probably shouldn't be believing any of this, but something in Embry's voice made me think she was telling the truth.

"The hunter's don't reveal themselves to their female children unless they marry another hunter. It's a way to protect the women." Embry said, a small smile on her face. "I know this is probably really hard for you to believe, but it's all true. I wouldn't make this up and I'm pretty sure Jarrett isn't sitting there in a wolf suit."

"I believe you." My voice was almost silent, and Jarrett nuzzled my hand again. "But I think I need to go to bed." I stood up, and my legs felt like Jell-o.

"Jarrett, take her to her room. I'll put the book away and make sure her scent's not in here. I'll see you two in the morning." Embry said softly.

A moment later, a human Jarrett was leading me out of the room. He had an arm wrapped around my shoulders so I wouldn't fall over.

"Mia, I'm really sorry. I really wanted to tell you, but they made me promise not too. It was already causing Mom enough trouble, and I-"

"It's okay, Jarrett. Really." I whispered.

When we got to my bedroom, he quietly sat me down on my bed.

"I'll see you in the morning, okay?" He said, turning away. When he took a step a lunged forward and caught his wrist.

"I can't be alone. Please stay." I whispered, and I suddenly felt like a child. Not being able to fight my own battles on my own, but by the look on Jarrett's face, he didn't find it as wimpy as I did.

He sat next to me, "Alright, but you have to go to sleep. Everyone is coming over tomorrow. Plus, I want you to come on patrol with me."

I nodded, laying down. I clutched his hand, feeling myself. I closed my eyes, trying to seriously fall asleep.

"No more secrets." He whispered, it was right before I really did drift into sleep so I didn't know if he really said it or not.


	5. DVDs

Chapter Three

_Embry_

_"Visions in my mind of the day that we met, You showed me things that I'll  
never forget."_

-Rihanna

_79 days before._

It was long past midnight now, hours since I'd sent Jarrett and Mia back to bed. That poor girl had been beyond shocked, and I wasn't very happy with myself for being the one to do that to her. She had a right to know though, she was living with us. She didn't even know what her father and mother did. I knew she'd heard Ren and I arguing. It had only been a matter of time before she went searching for answers like she did tonight.

_Ren__. _Thinking about my situation with him made my chest start to physically hurt. What had gone wrong with us? We'd been perfect, absolutely perfect. Until he found out about the letter I'd gotten from Nicole and how I'd written back. I knew he'd be angry, but I didn't think he'd be that angry.

I was sitting at his desk right, my knees pulled up to my chest. I had my arms wrapped around my knees and I was staring at the only picture Ren had on his desk. It was the picture from Blaise and Arson's wedding. While we were still at the Academy, I'd had the picture in my bedroom. When we'd moved here it had mysteriously disappeared, and I hadn't known where it went for months. Until I actually took the time to come in here and see the room, and I saw the picture.

I missed being with Ren a whole lot. The day after Mia moved here, he found the letter. We'd fought about it while the kids showed Mia around town, and I'd been staying in Logan's room ever since. I'd been avoiding being around him as much as possible, not wanting him to find more ways to yell at me. Whenever he did though, he shot insults at me about the things I was always insecure about.

_Now I don't blame Nicole for leaving._

_Why weren't you watching Jace when he got attacked?_

_Jace got hurt because you weren't there!_

_You're such a fantastic mother, Em. You know that?_

_You went behind my back, and talked to the woman who attacked our son! What kind of wife and mother does that?_

_How can you call yourself an alpha, you don't even patrol anymore?_

_Jarrett is your fault, you turned him into this._

Some of them rang through my mind, and they brought tears to my eyes. Why? I could never do anything like that to him, there wasn't a bone of anger in my body towards him.

But it _hurt. _God, it hurt. It hurt, and there was nothing I could do to change his mind. Ren had decided I was against him, and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. It was like losing him all over again, just like all those years ago. This time, I knew he wasn't going to come running after me to tell me he loves me. I was so deep in thought that I didn't hear someone else enter the Office.

"Embry, what're you doing? It's three in the morning." I turned my head to look at him, Ren was leaning against the door. His hair was messy, and he had on grey pants and a long sleeve black shirt on.

"I couldn't sleep." I said quietly, I tensed. I was trying to mentally prepare myself with what he was going to come up with next.

Instead of saying anything, he brought the other chair over and sat next to me. I liked the silence, but I needed to tell him what I'd just done. Just so he could get his anger out at me right now. So I could deal with it and hide it from the children.

"I told her, Ren. I told her everything." I whispered. He instantly tensed, and I waited for the harsh words. None came though, he just let out a sigh.

"It was only a matter of time before one of us would of had too." His voice sounded strained, and I knew that meant he wanted to say something else.

"Just say it, Ren. Tell me how much of a horrible person I am, and how this just screwed everything else up more. That I should have just told her to go to bed, and that I shouldn't have told her." I said, waiting for it. I was so used to it, I just wanted him to get it over with. Instead, he picked the picture up off of his desk.

"That was a crazy day." He said softly, and I looked at it as well.

"What, the part where I ruined the wedding or how Brenton threatened you repeatedly?" The memory brought a smile to my lips.

"Nah, I was talking about what happened after that." Ren said, there was a cocky tone to his voice.

"What are you-oh." I said. It took me a moment to remember what he was talking about, but when I remembered a blush found its way across my cheeks.

"You still blush about that?" He asked, smirking at me.

"Of course I do. It's not exactly something I'm never not going to blush about. It was..." I was trying to think of a word.

"Perfect." He finished for me. I smiled, nodding.

"Yes. It was perfect."

"What's happened to us, Em? Why aren't we like that anymore?" Ren sounded pained, and I grimaced.

"I don't know. Things have changed Ren, and I don't like it." I said, taking the picture from him.

"I miss you, Embry. I hate sleeping alone, not being able to wrap my arms around you." Ren sounded miserable.

"Ren, after those things you said, I just-"

"I know. I was an idiot, and I'm the one the screwed up this time. Not you, like you used to think you did everytime we fought." Ren said, that small smile appearing on his face. The silver in his eyes flickered, and I almost couldn't breathe.

"How about we just start over? Forget it all?" I looked at him in hope, I just wanted this behind me.

"Embry, I don't want you to just think that me saying that is o-"

"I don't. Believe me, I'm going to hold this against you forever. But I miss you, and I miss my bed." I said, and Ren smiled.

"Then let's start over." He whispered, leaning close to me. His hand trailed up my arm to rest on the back of my neck. Pulling me closer, his lips met mine. God, I missed kissing him. There are just some things you'll never get used to when you're with someone, and I will never get used to Ren's kisses. They ranged to many different things, and you never knew which one you would get.

"Mmmmm, I missed _that_." I said, and Ren laughed as he pulled away. I saw something peeking out from under his sleeve, and I pulled his sleeve up a bit. Tied around his wrist was a frayed, and distressed looking red bandana. I remembered it well, "You still wear this?"

"Of course I do. That day isn't one I'm ever going to forget. Come on, I have a surprise for you." He said, standing up. He held my hand and pulled me from the room. He dragged me toward the living room, he pushed me onto the couch. Then he disappeared out of the room for a moment, and when he returned he was carrying a box in his hands. He set it down next to the TV, and he scrunched his nose when dust floated around him. I couldn't help the small laugh.

"So are you going to tell me what those are?" I asked, as he turned on the tv, and the DVD player.

"Home videos!Well, home DVDs. Some of these babies are from the Academy! I found them the other day and I've been wanting to watch them since that!" Ren said, grinning as he rummaged through them.

"Can we watch them too?" A small voice said from the doorway, I looked over my shoulder to see who it was. Ren looked up at the same time.

Jace, Ree, Derek, and Logan were standing huddled together in the doorway. They looked wide awake, and not tired like they should be. I frowned for a moment, how long had they been awake? I'd put Logan to be around nine. Ree had gone to bed around eleven, and Jace even before that. Derek was alseep soon after Logan. I looked at Ren, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course you can. You should enjoy these. They were back when Mom and I could actually have fun." Ren said, winking at me. I felt my eyes widen.

"Ren, if there is a video from your twenty first birthday in that box, it better stay there." I said, giving him a warning look. Jace seemed to pick up on this. He gave Ren and I a mischevious smile.

"What's on your twenty first birthday tape?" Jace asked, and Ren grinned. He ignored my evil glare.

"Your mom put on one hell of a show." Ren said, then went back to sorting through the box. He picked up one he seemed to like, the case that held the DVD was labeled: 'Em's Beachy Day'. I recalled that day with a grin. It was only a couple weeks after Ren and I got married. Only a week before I found out I was pregnant with Jace. Ren slipped it into the DVD player and then he dove at me. He landed on me, causing me to grunt, and he grinned, cuddling up to me. I ignored him and watched the screen. Jace turned the lights down, and our three children spread out on the couch.

The video opened with a bunch of us in the car. Ren was recording, and I was sitting between Cassie and Flame. When Ren told us to pose for the camera all three of us did the duck face and a peace sign at the same exact moment. Everyone's laughter tang through the car. Arson was driving. Tyson and Cosette were cuddling and ignoring all of us. Blaise was sitting in the passenger seat next to Arson. She kept texting Adne, who was watching Jesse, to make sure he was okay. Calla was in the other car behind us with the rest of her pack.

"Mom, you were such a teenager." Ree said, laughing.

"I was only eighteen in here! I was a month pregnant with Jace, actually." I said, and Ren cracked a grin.

"I couldn't keep your mother off of me." He said, and Ree and Jace burst into laughter. Derek looked confused, thank God.

"_Renier_!" I screeched, glaring at him. He smiled sheepishly and kissed my cheek. I rolled my eyes and ignored him.

Ren was still recording, and we were all getting out of the car. Ren showed Calla's pack already splashing around in the water. Tyson and Cosette yelled and ran to join them. Cosette took the shirt she was wearing off first, revealing her light blue bathing suit. Blaise and Arson went more slowly, hand in hand. Blaise hadn't worn anything over her bathing suit. Flame and Cassie switched forms and howled, running into the water. I held back, wallong with Ren. He turned to camera back to me, and I scrunched my face up and turned away.

"Strike a pose, Em!" Ren laughed. So I did. I had put one hand behind my head, and the other on my hip. Ren wolf whistled, causing me to burst into laughter. "Babe, can I pretty please see your new bikini that I know you're wearing?" He had asked. I shook my head, frowning.

"I look fat! I've been gaining weight and I've no idea why!" I said, the wind ruffling my hair.

"Well, maybe if you take that damn t-shirt off, I could tell you." Ren said, and I had sighed. I took of the t-shirt and turned away, heading toward the water. "Wait! Come back! I wasn't done with you!"

I turned around and winked at him, "What are you gonna do about it wolf boy?" Ren had laughed, set the camera down and ran after me. You could see him pick me up and spin me around. I laughed when he set me down, then he came back and picked the camera up. He grinned into it.

"Well, I'm going to show my wife just why she should listen to me! Bye." With that, he turned the camera off.

The next video was of us bringing Jace home for the first time. Flame had been recording, and everyone had been waiting for us. Even everyone in Calla's pack. They all whispet cheered when we came in. I looked like shit, my hair was in a messy bun, and I was wearing sweats. My face was glowing though, and Ren came in behind me carrying the car seat containing baby Jace. Ren's eyes were twinkling and his face was glowing. After Ren handed Jace to Nicole first, he made me sit down on the couch and rest. Flame recorded everyone holding Jace for the first time. Ren recorded when Flame held him, and Flame had tears in her eyes.

"We always thought it would be Cole. But I'm glad it's you Ren." She said softly. Ren gave a soft sound, but didn't say anything.

The next DVDs were of all the childrens births. Ree's video had been the scariest, because she'd been so early. Everyone had barely let themselves hold her in fear.

This was my family. It was always going to be my family.


End file.
